Hope for change predictably stifled again

Voters were looking for change. That's all we kept hearing from the pollsters. By and large, voters didn't get it Tuesday night - certainly not in New Jersey.

As with the rest of the country, we got the same president, the same Democratic-controlled Senate and the same Republican-controlled House.

In New Jersey, we got the same U.S. senator, Bob Menendez, and the same congressional representatives serving us in their freshly gerrymandered congressional districts.

All 12 House incumbents sought re-election; all 12 won new two-year terms. And none of the 12 worked up much of a sweat. The closest contest was Jon Runyan's defeat of Shelley Adler in the 3rd Congressional District by 8 percentage points. No one else won by fewer than 13 points.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-6, who defeated former Monmouth County freeholder Anna Little in 2010 by 11 percentage points, trounced her in Tuesday's rematch by 28 points, aided by a redrawn district that carved out a large swath of friendly Democratic territory in Middlesex County.

Until the defeat in 2010 of Democratic Rep. John Adler by Runyan in the 3rd Congressional District, it had been 12 years since a New Jersey congressional incumbent had lost a bid for re-election. In the last 90 elections involving New Jersey congressmen - there hasn't been a woman elected to Congress here since Rep. Marge Roukema in 2000 - incumbents have lost only one race.

It wasn't much different on the county and local level. In town after town, incumbents and ruling parties dominated. Rare were victors divided among two parties.

But against that backdrop of preordainment, there were some eyebrow-raisers. In Somerset County, Republicans barely have to do more than throw their names out there for freeholder to collect easy wins year after year. Nothing seemed likely to change this time around, since Democrats were running on little more than a pledge to try to increase spending on worthy programs.

But Bound Brook Councilman Anthony Pranzatelli is close enough in the balloting to incumbent Mark Caliguire that a winner has yet to be declared, as paper, e-mail and faxed ballots continue to be counted. Incumbent Patrick Scaglione appears to be safely re-elected.

Democratic challenger Marie Corfield is also still holding out hope of surpassing Republican Assemblywoman Donna Simon in the 16th District, a long-time GOP stronghold that was made more Democratic through redistricting.

Local races were mostly yawners, but in Parsippany Democrat Johnathan Nelson's victory gave his party its first council seat in nearly 30 years.

Meanwhile, did anyone even notice the school board races? For all the hand-wringing about November school elections becoming too political, turns out the board contests for the most part got even less attention than in the past, thoroughly overshadowed by the rest of the ballot. But at least more people voted.

So in the end, we experienced the excitement that comes with any presidential race - and virtually no drama otherwise. We'd blame voters for not creating the change they supposedly seek, but they are also victims of a carefully constructed system that favors those already in power to unconscionable degrees, too often making a mockery of what democracy is supposed to be.

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Hope for change predictably stifled again

Voters were looking for change. That's all we kept hearing from the pollsters. By and large, voters didn't get it Tuesday night ? certainly not in New Jersey.

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